Aurélia's OratorioHarvard SquareCambridge, Massachusettswith shows starting Nov. 28th and into January 3, 2009"In "Oratorio," which is directed, designed, and choreographed by her mother, the slender and lovely Thierrée showcases her illusionist skills. The piece begins with a simple dresser on a bare stage. As gypsy jazz music swells, her limbs appear and reappear through the drawers in stupefying combinations as she smokes a cigarette and drinks a glass of wine, challenging the audience's notions of logic." - Boston.com

December 10, 2008Jame Thierrée wins French Theatre prize.more>"Swiss acrobat and actor James Thierree, Charlie Chaplin's 34-year-old grandson, has scooped another French theatre prize, the jury said Wednesday.

The 5,000-euro (6,400-US dollar) Theatre Pleasure prize, awarded by the country's playwrights' guild, will be handed to Thierree, a performer of many facets who is also mime artist, dancer, director and musician, at a ceremony January 19.

The son of acrobats Victoria Chaplin and Jean-Baptiste Thierree, the Swiss artist has made a name for himself as one of the world's most creative performers, staging shows that bring together theatre, magic, music and circus arts." - AFP

Update: I don't know how much longer this video news report will be on the web, but a peek at her performance from WBZTV Boston and AOL News.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Edna Parker, said to be the world's oldest woman, died at the age of 115.

Edna Parker was born April 20, 1893, making her over two years older than Edna Purviance, who was born in Oct. 21, 1895.

Chaplin was still a young child, in London, when Parker was born in Indiana, and she lived through the silent age, talkies, video, and now the digital age, along with a huge list of changes over her lifetime.

Her husband died in 1939, and she lived alone at her farmhouse until the age of 100. She never drank or tried tobacco, the article says, but she stayed active her whole life and said to have a mild temperament.

It doesn't mention what she died of, but maybe time just finally caught up with her. Know your friends and family will miss you Edna...

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Happy Eighth Anniversary, as Edna's .org starts eight years on the web. Each year we have continued to grow, as we have already broken a new record earlier this fall for visitors in one year. So we like to thank all our past visitors over the years, as well as the new visitors coming by.

I usually like to celebrate by launching something on this day on Edna's site, so today is no exception. I have a couple of projects in the works, but decided to launch an on going project, that is still in the making.

I have been working on updating the massive Charlie Chaplin Library, which is created from the collection of Dominique Dugros. A couple of years ago Garen Ewing lent his help by creating a basic database to make searching the library easier. The last two years, Dominique and I have been adding nearly 600 books into the database.

The increasing size of the collection is the main reason to switch to a database system, but the project is on going, because Dominique's collection is ever changing. He doesn't even know for sure what he will run across as his collection grows. So not wanting to lock into something that wouldn't fit future books he may find (like e-books, which Dominique started collecting only recently), the database may change as time goes along and grow to fit the collection.

While I will be updating the library with the latest books, other changes may come slowly overtime, but instead of leaving it hidden away, decided to release the database now.

Before using, here is a link to a 'how to use' tips list to introduce you to the database.

Update: Chaplin appeared on the January 21th program. If you are really interested in Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton, who also appeared on the same program, you should seek out the Unknown Chaplin series and Buster Keaton A Hard Act to Follow. The best series created on both. The Hard Act to Follow is a hard one to find, but a great one to have.

January 27, 2009 - The last of the six hour series will be this week. Check your local PBS listings.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

But being Charlie Chaplin fans, a good one to read, if you haven't... "The Case of the Misplaced Oscar" for the music of Limelight. More at Jazz Wax> There are more links about the story on their site.

In short, Russ Garcia worked on the music for Limelight, but somehow never got an Oscar the night they were given in the spring of 1973. See Jazz Wax site for more.

After having a person a few months ago complaining about the cost of The Sea Gull, it was very nice to read this letter back from a recent Edna fan who decided to take a chance on getting the book.

Dear Linda,I wanted you to know that I received today (Friday, November 21st) my copy of "The Sea Gull." WOW! I mean . . . WOW! How impressive! Although I have only flipped through the pages, it appears to be far better than I was expecting. I'm really excited to read it and take my time gazing at the photos.

I've been frustrated trying to find something/anything on Edna Purviance. This woman was Charlie Chaplin's leading lady for SO many films, and while it is understandable that there are a gazillion books, documentaries, etc., on Chaplin, it is INCREDIBLE to me that I could find NOTHING on Edna on Amazon.com.

And then while desperately searching google.com I came across your website and saw "The Sea Gull," and thought I'd take a chance on it. Even though I've not yet read the book in its entirety, I am confident that my gamble paid off: this looks like a really, really quality book.

Thank you! And having a personalized, signed copy makes it immeasurably more special to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you! - D.K.

We again send a special thanks to everyone who have sent their thoughts back to us this year. You can read more comments here.

Just a little reminder, the book price is going up, unfortunately, due to increase cost in printing, shipping, packaging, Internet fees, etc. (printing being the biggest increase).

You can still get a book at the $39.95 price (plus shipping) until December 31 or before we run out of the current stock. (New cover price will be $49 per book.)

We had a nice string of sales lately, but still have some left, if interested. Just don't go into debt getting a book, but if you really like one and can afford it, we still have some in stock at the current price. Thanks for visiting...

Also, just to restate something I said last month. I am still thinking of another book giveaway in the future. The new price increase has dampened that a bit, but rethinking on when to do one. I will cover that more on the anniversary of The Sea Gull book launch on January 13th, 2009.

Get PBS? Check your PBS listing for "The Unseen Alistair Cooke" for the week of November 23rd. These rare 8mm films, shot by Cooke, will be featured in this special program about his early travels.

For Charlie Chaplin fans, a rare film clip with Chaplin is said to be shown. It most likely has to do with this post we featured in 2007, about Cooke's 15 minute film footage of Chaplin, that premiered in Italy.

"...the film he shot of it himself, as he traveled around - including footage of Charlie Chaplin, car hops, Texas cattle and Lauren Bacall..." - LA Times

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Just doing some 'web surfing' and ran across these items listed at Christie's in London. The Helmet was most interesting, as it was given to Chaplin during the time of The Liberty Bond tour Charlie Chaplin did during WWI. It says on the back:

"Presented To CHARLES CHAPLIN By The U.S. GOVERNMENTIn Appreciation Of His Valuable SERVICES In The Liberty Loan Campaign 1918"

The cane and bowler was said to be a gift to the owner of the Henley Private Museum in Auckland, New Zealand. The information said:

"Late in 1938 or early 1939 I wrote to Charlie Chaplin requesting one of his canes and a bowler hat to add to my collection. The bowler hat arrived in a box, the cane was not wrapped but had a label attached addressed to me. Both arrived in 1939..."

You can learn more about these (and other items) at these links: helmet and cane.

Note: For fans who may not know, Liberty Bonds were sold to help fund World War I. Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, and other stars of the day, all did countrywide tours to raise money. As for Edna Purviance, she worked with the America Red Cross in helping raise money. One way was the many dances held by the Red Cross. Some were even held at the apartment building Edna lived in during the time, as a dance floor was part of the full top floor of her building and used for events. More about this will be in the book currently named Purviance.

November 28th, 2008 - Update from Christie's: A Hermes handbag once owned by Oona is now up for auction. more>_________________

November 20, 2008 - Meridian FM back on airIf you visit often the last few years, you know I have been listening to Meridian FM each time they come back on air. Well, it is back on air today through December 17th. If you live in their area, do become a supporter, as they are trying to get their broadcasting license to operate year around.

_________________

Edna's Eighth Year begins November 25thALSO, November 25th, 2008 is the start of Edna's .org 8th year on the web, so I have a special launch planned.________________

USA Dollar is strongerWith the US dollar going up in value, it has made it better for customers buying items from the UK and Europe. This summer the exchange was well over $2 to buy one pound, but today, it is closer to $1.50. Of course, the markets have been changing fast, with the pound even lower today, against the dollar, but it does make it better for those overseas purchases.________________

Thank-you for the nice string of The Sea Gull salesMany thanks to all of you who have purchased The Sea Gull lately. We have been sending to Asia, Europe, UK and USA locations. We still have some in stock at the $39.95 price, but when the stock runs out, or it is January 2, 2009, the price will be going up to $49 to cover all the new cost in printing, shipping and packaging. It is either raise the price or stop selling the book. So even though the markets are dropping, the cost of production is not, so just how it is. But if you want it at its lowest price, now is a good time to buy.________________

Still watch your TV over air in the US?Don't forget to use your $40 government card to use toward your converter box, if you still get your TV over air. In February, all television signals will be by digital only, so you will need the update. The $40 card expires very SOON! So don't delay.________________

Follow-up on The DFCI have written about other interest on the blog many times, so this a follow up for our UK readers. I have posted about the DFC a few months ago. If you are interested in seeing this children's comic book, it will be available for one week only (Nov. 26th-Dec. 2) at your local Tesco store. (DFC is by subscription only by the web, but they are test marketing for a special time.)

'Tesco' in the USA November 27th follow-up: I have been learning that some people outside the UK don't know what a Tesco is. Tesco is an UK supermarket. It comes in different sizes from mega stores to Express. Interesting, Tesco has been working on expanding their grocery business in the USA for many years.

Today, Tesco has a series of small (Trader Joe's size) food stores called Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets. Fresh & Easy actually has a store near the Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, close to The Chaplin Studio. The chain has expanded to several California locations in the Los Angeles area and elsewhere in California, as well into Las Vegas, Nevada and Phoenix, Arizona.

Note: Trader Joe's is having their Silent Movie Mondays again in 2009 in Seattle. More at this link.________________

THE DFC - Gift Subscription (available from Amazon UK)The DFC gift subscription is now available from Amazon UK. The one month subscription at £12.00, includes free delivery in the UK with Super Saver delivery. Check it out>(It does mention about destinations outside the UK. Just see their link for details.)

Update: Sad news about The DFC. The comic publication has been put up for sale by Random House. If not sold by March 27, 2009, the comic will stop publication at issue #43.

Monday, November 17, 2008

November 17, 2008 - Brand new Charlie Chaplin book was launched today in London at the St. John's school on Larcom Street, Walworth (a stone throw from East Lane).

Charlie Chaplin's South London, by Alan F. Parkinson, is about Charlie's upbringing and looks at education, religion, work and leisure pursuits during the time of Chaplin's youth. Many schools were involved with the project, with work they produced featured in the book.

As reported by Chaplin fan, Jack McInroy:"Alan Parkinson is a senior lecturer in history and education at London South Bank University. He specializes in political Irish history and has written books on the troubles in Northern Ireland as well as coordinating the Charlie Chaplin's south London primary school project."

Mr. Parkinson signing books at the event today.

McInroy also shares with us some photos from the event, which included at the event Chaplin's youngest son Christopher Chaplin and Kate Guyonvarch of the Association Chaplin.

Jack also got to play his favorite role today as Charlie Chaplin (top left), as he does often in London, like this performance at the Unicorn Theatre in Southwark (near London Bridge) this summer. We send our special thanks to Jack for sharing this special book launch event with us.

As for where to get this book? The book is not quite available to the public, yet. It is listed with Amazon USA and Amazon UK, but not currently available on those sites. More details as they come. You can contact us for more contact information for the book. Special thanks to Jack for the information on this event.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 18TH!!!I have received word from author Alan Parkinson about his new book. The book will be available sometime during the week of November 23rd, but he included this information to share with our readers:

'Charlie Chaplin's South London', by Dr Alan F Parkinson [LSBU]tells the story of south London's most famous citizen's childhood. In doing so it looks at work, leisure, educational and religious aspects of late Victorian life and is a must-read not only for Chaplin fans but also for those interested in the social history of London.

For our UK readers:The hardback book is priced at £15 [plus £2 postage] and can be obtained from:

Dr. A. ParkinsonEducationFAHSLondon South Bank UniversityLondon SE10AAUK[cheques payable to A. Parkinson]If you like to contact about purchasing a copy, please contact us through our Edna's sites for contact information.

SPECIAL RELATED FILM: Mr. Parkinson also mentioned a special screening of a related documentary film will be shown in the near future in the UK.

Said to be once considered to play with Charlie Chaplin in The Kid, basketball coach, Pete Newell has died at the age of 93.

""Mr. Newell was born Aug. 3, 1915, in Vancouver, British Columbia. He grew up in Los Angeles, where through his mother's persistence he became a child actor before he reached kindergarten age, appearing in several "Our Gang" movie comedies and being strongly considered for a plum part opposite Charlie Chaplin in "The Kid" in 1920.

But Jackie Coogan got the role, which didn't bother Mr. Newell at all. "I hated acting," he said. "All I wanted to do was to be home playing ball."" - San Francisco Gate

The Lovelock Review-Miner (Edna's hometown newspaper) has had a change in ownership. The Nevada Rancher once owned the Lovelock paper, but Nevada Rancher creator and original owner, Gwen Carter, passed away. The Nevada Rancher publishing was purchased by Winnemucca Publishing. They now own the Lovelock Review-Miner, as well, as The Humboldt Sun.

Since the change, the Lovelock Review-Miner has not been online, as before, with articles from the local paper. Not knowing if they will return online, they do have a contact page for the paper.

The Montecito Inn, noted for being built by Charlie Chaplin in 1928, has a major wildfire in the area at this writing. The fire has burnt down over 100 luxury homes in the region, famous for celebrities homes. The fire also has burned down some buildings at the Westmont College.

"The landmark Montecito Inn was built in the 1920s by Charlie Chaplin, and the nearby San Ysidro Ranch was the honeymoon site of John F. Kennedy in 1953." - The Associated Press

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

An article from The Rocky Mountain News about Timothy Brock's work on the score "City Lights". Link to more>

"Brock assembled an early arrangement of City Lights in 1989 for the Chaplin centennial. In 2004, he returned to the film and created a complete restoration, digging through five boxes of manuscripts.

"The real challenge," Brock explained, "was deciphering all of Chaplin's revisions, since he would change things on the fly constantly." Notes and melodic snippets on scraps of music paper, restaurant receipts, what-have-you had to be organized into a cohesive, continuous score.

The difficulty in re-creating this and every other Chaplin soundtrack stems from the fact that he was self-taught and couldn't read music." - Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colorado

Friday, November 07, 2008

Thursday, I got the final word about the increased cost of printing and shipping of The Sea Gull book. All added, the cost to produce our book has increased, a lot. We have no choice but to also increase the cover price of the book.

The cost of printing has increased a whopping $8 PER BOOK. Everything else has gone up, including shipping, packaging materials, and more. This is placing the current COST just to produce a single book, at over $40 each!

The new retail price will be $49 dollars per book, plus shipping (we plan to keep the same shipping fees at this time, even though they too, have been going up).

Realistically, the price needs to increase, to also cover other costs, like banking fees, Internet fees, bookkeeping expenses, and gas to get to the post office and back. Most important, we need to keep the Edna Purviance research project alive.

I know some people were complaining about the current $39.95 price, but if we want to keep this project going at all, and not sell at cost or loss, an increase is necessary. Publishing, especially on-demand publishing, will never be the same again. We are entering an era when small run books will become an expensive purchase. We are seeing Chaplin books now in the $65 price range.

Unless we sell out our current stock before December 30th, the new price change will go in effect on January 2, 2009.

We currently have a good stock built up, due to advance warning that the costs were going up.

It's unfortunate we have been forced to make this change, but it is either raise the price to cover the costs, or just pull the book off the market. I think you will agree it makes no sense to sell books at a loss.

UPDATE: March 30, 2009 - We really like to thank everyone who have bought books since we have increased the price. We have shipped to Europe, the UK, Japan, Canada and many locations in the US, since the price increase. I have a new stock of books coming in, but still have a few left for anyone who like to order now.

I did find out on this new order that the prices have gone up, again, with new fees in shipping and printing, but I will not be increasing the price right now. We hope the current prices don't increase anytime soon. Watch Edna's Place Blog 'Happening Right Now' for any rare offers that might come up in the future.

First Edition -Currently, I have the first edition book in stock. If you like to have a first edition, it is time to order your copy. I am currently working on retiring the First Edition of Sea Gull.

The series begins November 8 with the showing of "Children of Divorce" and continues each weekend through December 14th, 2008. The program is at the East Building auditorium and admission is free (seating is limited, so do arrive early).

"This stylistic beau geste was previewed at the home of Charlie Chaplin and made its director the toast of stellar Hollywood for a time. "Salvation Hunters" never became a popular success, but Mr. Sternberg was touted as Mary Pickford's next director and did complete a feature commissioned by Mr. Chaplin, a comeback vehicle for his former leading lady and consort, Edna Purviance. Titled "The Sea Gull" and then "A Woman of the Sea," it displeased the patron, who either destroyed the negative or locked it away in a vault. It remains one of four "lost" Sternberg movies of the late 1920s...

The great Sternberg silents still await DVD editions. Even the Dietrich inventory needs fresh showcasing, which might as well begin with the best of the batch, "Morocco" and "Shanghai Express." There is a new DVD edition of "Scarlet Empress," which will merit a column in 2009, its 75th anniversary year... "- The Washington Times, Gary Arnold

Latest updates on Edna Purviance's sites, related Charlie Chaplin news and items of interest, with a sampling of my other interests. Currently working on Edna's family bio. Draft is finished, and onto the editor stage. More to come.

Charlie Chaplin DVDs

Comparison Review of the Mutual DVD Collections

Charlie Chaplin Books

Collecting Chaplin books? Check out our list and database

Hollywood Series

Kevin Brownlow and David Gill - While still available on VHS from private collections, The Hollywood Series Collection SHOULD BE on DVD, but due to copyrights, controlled by studios, etc. it is being held-up. Great series that should be saved.

Adel Gance's Napoléon and Revisiting England

Morgan vs. Morgan

Finding the alias 'Morgan Hill'

The Sea Gull "A Woman of the Sea" by Linda Wada - Charlie Chaplin's lost film production - 1926

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR DETAILS! Film starring Edna Purviance, story and direction by Josef von Sternberg: "The look of the film, revealed in these marvellous photographs, makes it all the more tragic that it was destroyed." - Kevin Brownlow, Silent Film Historian, London

Adventure Films - 2014 WAR Series

with Garen & Murray Ewing discuss 10 war films for this latest series.

Lita Hill: Apr. 1933-Jan. 2008

Edna Purviance's Grand Niece has died - see January 21, 2008 post. About Lita's interview shown in Hollywood: "...remarkable interviews with Edna's great niece, herself quite the interesting lady. A nontraditional view of Edna, who did NOT pine away and die after her affair with Chaplin ended, but went out and lived a good full life and married the man of her dreams. I hope this one gets some walking money."

Discovered Films with Edna!

Edna Purviance's Private Life! See January 17th, 2007 special post!

Jack Squire's films part of FDR Documentary

PBS Producer, John Schwally, will be using some of Jack Squire's discovered films for upcoming documentary about FDR. (Jack was Edna's husband.)